


The Best We Can Do

by readitson



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Mention Acxa/Veronica, Being Good Boyfriends, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gift, Lance's Mom Is An Angel, Lance's Nephew Is Pure, M/M, Shance secret santa, Shiro Just Wants Lance To Be Happy, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 20:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17127833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readitson/pseuds/readitson
Summary: Shiro and Lance's first Christmas just the two of them, and Lance is missing his family and his usual festive traditions. Shiro tries to cheer him up.





	The Best We Can Do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [munchiesafterdark (after_midnightmunchies)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/after_midnightmunchies/gifts).



> Here it is!! My secret santa gift for the absolutely wonderful Cass!  
> You're the biggest sweetheart and I really hope you enjoy this sickeningly sweet fic, I did my best to do something worthy of you!! Merry Christmas<3
> 
> (also unbeta'd so I'm sorry if it's a mess, ly)

The morning was crisp, chilly, and bright. Sunlight flooded through the crack in the curtains and Lance squinted at it shining down on him. He blinked the sleep away before rolling over. Face to face with his still snoozing boyfriend, he smiled. Lance gently shook his chest.

“Babe,” he said quietly. He smiled as Shiro frowned over at him, eyes barely open.

“Hmf,” Shiro mumbled, using an arm to pull Lance into him and attempt to return to sleep.

“Shiro, come on. We need to get going before the snow hits,” he insisted. The air outside the warm haven of their bed was deadly. Neither of them wanted to face the cold, but there were things to be done. Shiro stretched out his limbs and scrunched up his face. He dreaded when Lance was awake before him, because it either meant he’d slept in way too late, or there was a big day ahead of him.

“What time is it?”

“I don’t know, but we need to get _up up up!_ ” Lance chirped, fueled by the sheer excitement of the day. “Time to get ready for Santa!”

Shiro wanted to be mad, he wanted to go back to sleep. But he opened his eyes properly at last and couldn’t help but smile. “You’re adorable.”

“Sh. I love you. Get up.” There was a shift of covers and a sudden chill as Lance’s warm body left his side. Shiro watched him walk over to the door in his cute pajamas and put on a robe and slippers. He shuffled over to the bed again and opened the curtains. Shiro groaned, but that was soon overshadowed by Lance’s loud noise of distress.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Shiro asked, worried.

Lance looked out the window disparagingly. “It looks like it’s been snowing all night! There’s no way any store will be open today! What are we going to do!?” he wailed. “I knew I should have got everything early. Why did I leave it so quiznacking late?” He flopped down onto the bed headfirst. Shiro grimaced.

“It’ll be fine, Lance. We’ve both been busy. It doesn’t matter, Christmas will be fine without all that stuff.”

Lance looked up at him, devastated. “I always leave everything so late. I’m so shit at organizing,” he complained.

“Honestly, babe, it’ll be okay.”

“I just… I wanted our first Christmas in the apartment to be special. It’s the first time it’s been just us. Tomorrow there’s supposed to be eggnog and decorations and mistletoe and holly and we have _nothing_ ,” he said miserably.

“Come here.” Shiro gently pulled Lance closer, letting him curl up in a ball and lean against him. “The thing that’ll make the day special is you. It’s about the two of us celebrating family and love and happiness. I know I sound corny but it’s true.”

“I love when you’re corny,” Lance mumbled into his side.

Shiro smiled. “And I love you. Tomorrow is going to be wonderful, I promise. Now, let’s call your Mom to wish her a Happy Christmas. She’ll definitely be too busy tomorrow. That’ll make you feel better, right?”

“You make me feel better. But yeah, that sounds nice.” Lance uncurled himself to press a loving kiss to Shiro’s lips. “You’re an angel.”

“And you’re the cutest. I’ll go get dressed and see if your Mom is free for a video call. You mind making some coffee?”

Lance smiled at him fondly. “Course not.” Shiro pressed a kiss to his forehead, then climbed out of bed. He padded to their wardrobe and picked out which sweater he wanted.

Lance headed into the kitchen and put the kettle on. He stared out the window as he waited and tried not to feel disappointed. Shiro didn’t do tradition, he didn’t have the big family Lance had with all the chaos and rituals on holidays. He’d been to Lance’s for the holidays before, but he wanted to show him the fun of Christmas _without_ the hassle of a million children screaming their heads off.

The kettle boiled and he poured them both creamy, hot coffees. Perfect for the weather and Lance’s sudden melancholy. He set them down on the small table in their kitchen just as Shiro came in. He was dressed in a cosy grey sweater that Lance said made him look like a sexy professor, and Lance’s heart swelled. He was so lucky.

“So I messaged your Mom and she says she’ll give us a call in 20 or so minutes,” he said, giving Lance a peck on the cheek before sitting down with his coffee. Lance nodded and leaned against the table, sipping from his mug.

“I feel so bad I’m not going over there this year. I don’t even remember the last time I didn’t see her on Christmas.”

“It’s not your fault, work has been crazy lately. She understands.”

Lance sighed. “I know. She’s too good for this world, honestly.”

Shiro smiled. “You staying in your pj's?” he asked.

“Hm?” Lance thought about the day ahead. “No. But we’re not going out anymore so I’m dressing comfy.”

“Ok, honey.”

Lance set his coffee down on the table and shuffled back to their room. He lethargically picked through all his clothes and decided none of it would do. Rifling through shiro’s clothes was a much better idea. He found an old worn hoodie of his and pulled it out, smiling to himself. It was pale pink and baggy in all the right places. He felt comforted a little as he swayed his arms in the oversized sleeves. He found a pair of sweatpants in his own draw and put his soft slippers back on.

“Lance, Mom’s calling,” Shiro called. Lance smiled wide, feeling a little more in the festive mood again as he joined Shiro and waved at his Mama.

“Look at the two of you! I just can’t believe it. My boy having Christmas in his own apartment!”

“Mom, I’ve been living in my own apartment for ages,” Lance said, smiling at her fondly.

“I know, but it’s the first time you’ve not been here,” she sighed.

“I know, Ma, I’m sorry.”

She waved a hand in front of her face. “Oh hush. Don’t apologize I know you’ve both been busy. I just want you two to be happy. I am missing seeing you both this time of year, though!”

“Thank you, Ma. We’re definitely missing you too.”

“We are. I miss seeing your lovely face every morning on the holidays,” Shiro added warmly.

“Oh, Shiro. You and your charm,” she chuckled, “I’ll never tire of it."

“Love you, Lillian,” he singsonged sweetly.

“The offers always there to call me Mom,” she reminded him, just as a screaming child could be heard barreling down the stairs. “Oh. Here comes Silvio,” she giggled. On the screen they saw a small set of hands try grab the phone.

“Lance!!!!!” he yelled excitedly. They saw Lillian shake her head before she passed it down and the screen was filled with a very close up face of Lance’s grinning nephew.

“Hey, lil buddy! How you holdin’ up without your favourite Uncle?” Lance asked, heart swelling seeing him again.

“It’s so boring! The old people keep talking about boring stuff and none of them will play pilot with me,” he complained.

“Get Veronica to do it. Tell her Lance said so and if she doesn’t, he’s going to tell Acxa about the Snowball incident.”

“They’re both here! She won’t play with me because she’s doing gross couple stuff like cuddling. At least when you bring Shiro here he plays too.”

“Acxa’s just shy, love. You know she does her best,” Lillian cut in. She lifted the phone from Silvio’s hands. “Anyway, call Auntie V in here I’m sure she wants to speak to Lance too.”

“That’s okay Mom, I spoke to her yesterday,” Lance assured her.

“Bye Lance! Bye Shiro!” Silvio called, before running off. Lance loved that kid.

“Alright,” she said with a sigh. “Well I need to finish getting the groceries in. It’s so lovely to hear from you two. I do miss you both, but I’m so glad you have each other.”

“Always a pleasure to see you,” Shiro said, smiling.

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, honey. Bye-bye!” she said, before ending the call. Lance watched her smiling face pop off the screen and squeezed Shiro’s hand.

“Are you okay?” He asked softy.

Lance nodded. “Just miss them.” Shiro pulled him close and rubbed his back gently.

“I know. We’ll have fun tomorrow, though.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, nuzzling into Shiro further and closing his eyes.

The rest of the day was spent watching Christmas movies Lance had picked out, and one viewing of The Santa Clause starring Tim Allen that Shiro somehow convinced Lance to allow. Lance would never understand why, but Shiro insisted he found it funny. The both of them started to doze off during the 5th movie, and after waking up again having missed a good 10 minutes of the plot, Lance called it a night.

They got into their pajamas and curled up together under the covers. Lance pressed a gentle kiss to the side of Shiro’s face and slipped on his sleeping mask.

“Night,” he whispered.

“Night,” Shiro replied, kissing the top of his head. He closed his eyes and rested for a while. He didn't fell asleep, however, waiting for once Lance was definitely asleep.

He carefully removed himself from Lance’s side. Tiptoeing across the bedroom, he made his way out into the hallway, holding his breath as if it helped. He tried to make as little sound as possible as he walked down to the Junk Cupboard. Lance didn’t like when he called it that, he always argued it wasn’t junk, but it definitely had a lot of junk in it.

This time, it proved to be useful.

-

The following morning Lance found he had slept heavy. He got up way past the time he expected, but the moment he was awake he bounced up. Shiro was sound asleep next to him, face pressed ungracefully into the pillow. Lance squished his cheek and leaned in.

“Shiro, my love. My sweetie pie. My darling. It’s _Christmas_.”

Shiro smiled, taking a slow breath in before opening his eyes slightly. “Are you sure?”

“YES I’M SURE,” he said excitedly. “Get your beautiful ass up, it’s present unwrapping time!” Shiro took a moment to lay in bed a little while longer as Lance got on his slippers and robe.

He may not be at home, but Lance always got the same feeling the morning of Christmas. The fuzzy warmth that filled his stomach and made him grin like an idiot. He didn’t bother waiting for Shiro.

He opened the door of their bedroom in a hurry, only to stop in the doorway. He looked up and around him with complete and utter shock. Snowflakes. There were paper snowflakes _everywhere_. Rows of them hung up across the walls and doors and some individual ones stuck in random spots on the wall. He was speechless as he walked out into the hallway and saw fairy lights hung up in the living room too, twinkling in the room like tiny stars. He looked at the table and saw the punch bowl set out with festive drawings stuck around it and some kind of fruity drink inside. It looked like Shiro had put wrapping paper over the counter top to give the illusion of a Christmassy tablecloth. Lance took it all in and began to tear up.

He turned round and saw Shiro watching him, leaning his hip against the wall with a quiet smile on his face.

“I know how much the festive season means to you. It broke my heart seeing how disappointed you were yesterday. I hope this is okay. We didn’t have much in the house but I did what I could,” he said, starting to blush a little of embarrassment.

Lance’s face crumpled. He surged forward and pulled Shiro towards him, hugging him as tight as he could. “This is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen,” he mumbled into his neck, sniffing slightly.

Shiro’s shoulders relaxed and a hand came up to stroke Lance’s hair. “I’m glad you like it.”

Lance pulled away enough to look him in the face. “I love it, Shiro. It’s wonderful and perfect and everything I ever wanted.” He rested his hands on Shiro’s cheeks and couldn’t help looking at him adoringly. “God, I love you.”

Shiro placed one of his own hands over Lance’s and leaned into it. “I love you too, Lance. Merry Christmas.”

Lance closed his eyes and pressed a soft kiss to Shiro’s lips. It wasn’t the Christmas he’d expected or hoped for, but something even better. Everywhere he looked he was surrounded by what Shiro had done for him, and everywhere around him he felt love. He couldn’t have asked for anything more.


End file.
